For the first time, I was VERY happy with my swim. I paced well, drafted effectively, navigated perfectly, and really hit my stride in the water. I didn't know how well I had done, exactly, but the number of bikes still in transition gave me a clue. This picture doesn't show it well, but the run up from the lake is something of legends. The ramp from the dock to the sidewalk was probably 50-55 deg (angle). The event director, Jeremy Davis, is a sick puppy! 7th in AG and 28th overall (out of 145).
Heading out of transition, I wasn't winded and felt great. I was, however, concerned about the brutal hills on the bike course that I had observed on the drive in that morning. A couple of crazy corners, too, which I'm still a bit nervous through since the wreck.
The bike went fairly well, but it's just been too long since I have focused on hills, so I was just hemorrhaging time on the inclines. I was holding great pace on the flats, false flats, and down hills. I'm sure I surprised more than one person that crept by me on a hill, that I in turn blasted past on a flat. In the end, though, I had lost time to the guys I wanted to be with into T2. I was 7th in my AG, and 22nd overall.
The run went well, and once I found my stride I really started to make up some ground. I pushed hard, and wound up with the 3rd best run split for my age group, and 19th overall. Not too shabby!
It was a good race, but if I do it next year I intend to be trained up on the hills, and do the Olympic distance instead of the Sprint.
